This Week at Cross Church: Around The Ministry and Needs Before Us
Today I want to take you on a tour through our ministry and share with you needs currently before us. I am convinced that God has given His people gifts and resources to meet needs; however, we all need to know what those needs are in order to help meet them.
We still need $94,000 for Summer Camp Scholarships
This summer we will take 750 children and students to camp. At least half of those students are in need of a financial scholarship. The cost of each camp per student is: Children’s Camp – $299; Middle School Camp – $285; and Student Camp – $450. Therefore, our overall camp scholarship need is $100,000 above the tithe — the 10% of all God has given to us that we give through our Ministry Budget. Thanks to many of you who gave to this need this past Sunday. To God be the glory! We are going to continue to share this need in the coming weeks in order to determine how many scholarships we can offer our children and students. Cross Church, please help us with this need. If you decide to give by check or cash, denote on the check or offering envelope a special gift for “SCHOLARSHIPS”, or go online to crosschurch.com/give
Our 2013 Summer Program of Giving need is $4,665,000
For many years, we have highlighted our Ministry Budget giving needs during the 15 weeks between Memorial Day Sunday, May 26, through Labor Day Sunday, September 1. During the Summer Program of Giving we lay before you what it takes to operate the Ministry Budget of the church during this highly traveled season of time.
Meeting this weekly need of $311,000 keeps every Cross Church ministry running at an optimal level even though most of our families are away at some point for summer vacation. Please dial-in here with us. Our church’s ministries are dependent on your financial support regardless of if you are in town or not. Our ministry marches on from Sunday worship services, to mission ministries, age-graded ministries, to special events like our Summer Freedom Celebration on June 30 and Vacation Bible School. This summer is a great time to activate:
Automated Giving which is easy to set-up Giving online wherever you are around the worldJoin us for Mother’s Day and Global Missions Sunday, May 12
On May 12, Mother’s Day, we will be taking pictures of all mothers and their families. Mothers, invite and bring your families to worship with you. Families, invite and bring your Moms to worship with you. The family photo will be free of charge. Multiple photo settings will be offered on each campus, brevity will happen, and quality is our goal. Photo opportunities will be available before and after each worship service.
Additionally on this Sunday, we will observe our Global Missions Day. On this special Sunday we will be privileged to have some of the world’s greatest champions for missions in our presence. The Board of Trustees for the International Mission Board will be meeting in Northwest Arkansas during the week of May 12. Therefore, we will be privileged to hear:
Springdale Campus: 9:15 a.m. – Dr. Tom Elliff, President of the IMB 10:55 a.m. – International missionary, due to the location this missionary is presently serving, we are not at liberty to share his name at this time. Pinnacle Hills Campus: 9:15 a.m. – Dr. Tom Elliff, President of the IMB (simulcast) 10:55 a.m. – Dr. Tom Elliff, President of the IMB Fayetteville Campus: 8:30,10, 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. – Dr. Gordon Fort, Senior Vice President, Office of Prayer Mobilization and Training of the IMB College Avenue Campus: 10:30 a.m. – Lance Morton, Missionary AppointeeIMB’s Missionary Appointment Service at the Pinnacle Hills Campus
On the evening of May 15 at 6:30 p.m., Cross Church Pinnacle Hills will host the appointment service of 58 missionaries that will serve around the world through the International Mission Board. These are our missionaries! On this evening, you will hear from Dr. Tom Elliff, President of the IMB. Please note that on May 15 all Wednesday night activities will be canceled across our four campuses to ensure that our people can attend the appointment service.
Cross Church Family, we are serious about reaching Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World for Jesus Christ
All we do should be or is committed to fulfilling this vision within our church. This is my heart and goal as your Pastor. We do what we do in order to see this vision fulfilled. It cannot and will not happen without each of you in our church family joining us in this worthy Gospel endeavor. Thank you for all you have done and will do in the future.
Yours For The Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Pastors and their Passion
A passionless pastor cannot lead people towards a better future. A passionless pastor will not move people with his preaching. A passionless pastor is unable to motivate people to reach their community, nation, and world for Jesus Christ.
Quite honestly, the phrase “passionless pastor” is an oxymoron to me. The phrase is incongruent and contradictory. How in the world can a God-called pastor lack passion in his life?
Our Lord had passion. He was driven with an intense desire to redeem people from their sins. Even the last week of His life is referred to as “Passion Week.” Those final days were filled with joyous passion as the people threw their palm branches and blankets before Him as He rode down the Palm Sunday pathway. The people were filled with tears as He prayed over the city of Jerusalem. These days were even comprised of immense and intense emotion as He became so disturbed by the marketing and commerce that occurred in the Temple.
From the humility He showed by washing the feet of His followers, to His last supper with them, to falling on His knees in prayer in Gethsemane, to His betrayal by one of His followers, to the injustice of His trials, to the denial by one of His beloved true disciples, to the loneliness of His last hours, to the ruthless scourging moments before His walk to the cross, to the nails driven into His hands and feet, to His desire to win the thief on the cross, to becoming the sin of the entire world, to His separation from His Father, and to His final breath, our Lord Jesus exuded passion. He could not have accomplished His life purpose without passion. Neither can you.
I am amazed at the lack of passion
Sometimes when I listen to a pastor of a ministry or a church stand before a group and try to move them towards a worthy goal, I am amazed at their lack of passion. I often think to myself, “Do they really think people will be moved by their life and words — which appear to be so passionless?” A major part of leadership is rallying people toward a better future. The role of a spiritual leader is to rally people toward fulfilling what they believe is God’s will for their life and church. Pastor, whether you lead a student group of 25 people, a worship service of 100 people, a Bible Study for 10 people that want to help you plant a church in your city, or teach before a classroom of students, or preach before thousands, you will not move or keep one person without passion.
Pastors Should Be Most Passionate About
1: Their personal walk with Jesus Christ
Since Christ saved you by His grace from your sin, He desires greatly for you to now grow in His grace. This cannot be done without a devotional life built rock-solid upon pouring the Word of God in your life daily. This will not be done without prayer becoming one of your major priorities in your life and ministry. A pastor who is passionless is usually a pastor who is not having an intimate, consistent, devoted time with God daily. I have found in my life and leadership, that the greater my devotional life is, the more intensely passionate my leadership becomes.
2: Their calling to the ministry of the Gospel
Most pastors have lost the thrill of their calling into the ministry of the Gospel. We can blame our circumstances or the churches we have served through the years for dampening our passion, but if we have lost some of our passion, it is ultimately on us. Our passion should not come from the praise of men, but from the God of Heaven who chose us to give our life to the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have forgotten the humility of asking, “Why me, Lord?” and exchanged it with the pride of declaring, “I deserve more.”
When a pastor is more passionate about his golf game than he is about God Himself, he needs to resign. When a pastor is more passionate about his favorite sports team than he is about the message he is going to preach on Sunday, then he needs to resign. When a pastor is more passionate about the numbers in his retirement account than he is about the number of people his church is reaching and discipling for Christ, then he needs to resign. When a pastor is more moved by planning something for himself than he is about planning for his church, then he needs to resign. A pastor without passion cannot and will not lead the church effectively.
3: Their opportunity to see lives changed
Just think about this pastor, you have the privilege to give everyday of your life to seeing the lives of people changed. One can touch a life by selling them some kind of apparel to wear. One can affect a person’s day by giving them food to eat. Another can alter a person’s future by teaching them about economics. But pastor, you can see a life changed today and forever when you lead someone into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Realize that God has let you give every waking hour of your life to leading a ministry or an entire church towards the common goal of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every person in the world and to making disciples of all the nations.
If this does not fire you up, light your jets, and help you get up each morning with a greater passion, then it is time to rethink your life, reignite your walk, and renew your calling. Get away one day. Draw aside to Jesus. Confess where you are. Open God’s Word. Lay before Him. Open your spiritual ears. Plead for a Word. Journal your thoughts. Act on His Word. Return with a resolve. Share with others what God has said. And please do not forget pastor friend . . .
Live And Lead With Passion,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.